In the psychosomatic department of the University Hospital of Erlangen trainings were conducted for active refugee aid workers with start in January, 2016. Meanwhile 49 helpers participated in the training and 45 of them filled out a survey questionnaire. Perceived distress when providing care for refugees, as well as engagement motivation and further training needs were explored. Furthermore, depressive symptoms as well as the prevalence of traumatic experiences were investigated. The main burden was experienced through lacking freedom of action on the background of legal regulations. Furthermore dissociative symptoms (15.4%) and aggressive behavior (26.9%) of refugees were reported as distress factors. To help others proved to be the highest motivator for their work with refugees. Only 2 workers (4.4%) showed elevated depressive symptom manifestations. In contrast, 93.3% of refugee helpers had experienced a traumatic event personally or as a witness. For the helpers the greatest training needs were the recognition of mental health problems and to learn concrete intervention strategies to help those affected. © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart New York.

Distress Needs Trainings Refugee aid workers Engagement motivators

Germany depression refugee Syrian Arab Republic motivation human Refugees middle aged health service volunteer Stress, Psychological mental stress priority journal Volunteers ethnology Surveys and Questionnaires Humans psychology male female questionnaire health services Article adult Syria distress syndrome disease burden